Sunday 24 November 2019

Word salad.

We’ve had a lot to say about Fiyaz Mughal over the years, not always in complimentary terms. We saw his role as chief of “Tell Mama” as almost laughable. But, a bit like Trevor Phillips, he seems to have redeemed himself. Have they both turned over a new leaf or did we get it wrong all along?

For Fiyaz Mughal put his name to that letter to the Guardian, explaining why he and the other 23 signatories could no longer vote Labour. Not under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, anyway. 
“if Corbyn comes to power, my time working with any Labour minister will come to an end.
I cannot work to prop up or deliver any work under his leadership. This is particularly depressing since I am a social liberal – values that should naturally resonate with any Labour administration.
So why did I sign the letter openly voicing the fact that Corbyn would be a disaster for our country?
Firstly, Corbyn has been a lightning rod to attract people to Labour whose world view strongly hinges on the Israel and Palestine conflict. That is not a problem, but it has become a problem since some of these activists are openly antisemitic and see all Jews as being "the other"; as the cover-all term, many of these activists liberally use the term ‘Zionists’ to smear British Jews who simply disagree with them.”

*****

The other day a Corbynite economist appeared on Politics Live. Not your average millennial, but a mature lady called Ann Pettifor. No fool like an old fool. 

She defended the Labour Party’s policy on taxation by likening it to the Scandinavian model. Now, our Danish friends, middle-class rather than wealthy, have been long complaining about the huge amount of tax they have to pay for the socialist utopia. This dates back several years, long before the Islamic invasion. Goodness knows how the situation has unfolded, tax-wise. 

I was gratified to hear Ms Pettifor making this particular comparison, even though she viewed it as a positive, and was using it as a defence against assorted comparisons with Venezuela. I was surprised no-one on the panel took it up.

******

Can someone enlighten me as to the difference between poetry and ‘word-artistry’? Rapper, innit?

There’s a trailer featurin’  George the Poet that I find so grating that it’s even more “off-switch” than the Archers' signature tune. 

I don’t know what exactly I’m allergic to - the absence of scansion and the self-indulgent approach to rhyme, but I do wonder if George the Poet is to ‘poet’ like Rupert the bear is to ‘bear’.

******

I haven’t commented on the BBC’s continuous bias against Israel for a while, but I haven’t forgotten it. It’s piling up - the stuff I’ve read on EoZ and BBC Watch is enough to make one weep. 

Of course, the fact that this country (Britain) is being Islamified at a rate of knots explains the media’s refusal to link the Palestinians’ religious fuelled anti-Jewish principles with their determination to eradicate the ‘Jewishness’ of Israel. 

The widely held theory that Mike Pompeo’s statement about the legality of settlements is another obstacle to peace is entirely mistaken. It’s the opposite. The sooner the non-Islamic world stops encouraging a belief system based in hatred the better. They are only perpetuating the conflict for the sake of an ill-conceived sense of righteousness. 

Not that Boris Johnson’s Tories are any better than the BBC on that score, but at least Matt Hancock once attended a presentation by PMW. (Not that he was particularly impressed)

4 comments:

  1. It's good to see Fiyaz Mughal and Maajid Nawaz teaming up for that letter.

    I thought we'd written more about Ann Pettifor over the years, but all I'm finding is some post of mine where I described her as being on 'Broadcasting House' with "the poptabulous Tony Blackburn". That was in 2013.

    Ah, George the Poet - who's sure to show it as a poet, don't you know it, when he's a 'Today' guest editor over Christmas. Lots of lovely identity politics promised. Can't wait. There's a fun 'Spectator' piece, if you've not read it, about Instapoetry (poets on Instagram), like this highly popular male feminist poet's romantic offering:

    The sex was a bonus
    to the great and wondrous privilege
    of being in close proximity
    to her jokes.

    Who needs Yeats?

    BBC Watch and Elder continue to provide a splendid service. Long may they continue to do so. And with Babs Plett Usher - the one, for those who don't know, who actually got told off by the BBC for saying on air that she cried on learning of Yasser Arafat's death - back in Jerusalem for the BBC, I think they're going to be kept busy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I did see it and I was very reassured to read that “it’s all about how the instapoetry makes you feel” so I may not be irredeemably racist after all. It’s just feeelings.

      Delete
    2. How can they justify returning such a partisan reporter to Jerusalem.

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    3. The jokes were a bonus
      to the great and wondrous privilege
      of being in close proximity
      to her mammalian protuberances.

      Delete

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